Board approves CTE housing project

The foundation is laid, but the Custer School District (CSD) Board of Education has a few stipulations before the Custer Career Technical Education (CTE) Community Homes program can start building. 
In close coordination with the CSD, the Black Hills Area Community Foundation opened the Custer CTE Community Homes Fund in January. The fund exists to support a CTE homebuilding construction trade program. Since its creation, roughly $12,500 has been raised. The funds will be used to cover the costs of building a single-family home as part of the CTE curriculum. 
Chris Huber, president and CEO of the Black Hills Area Community Foundation, wrote, “Our vision of this partnership is straightforward, and, we believe, sustainable over the long term. CTE students will build a home from the ground up, gaining hands-on construction experience. Once the home is complete, it will be moved onto a permanent site and sold. Any revenue left over after expenses will flow back into the fund, where it will help pay for the next one.” 
With such a program, CSD students will be able to gain real-world homebuilding experience. Simultaneously, affordable homes will be added to Custer’s housing market, one project at a time. 
The CSD facilities and transportation committee, including school board members Heath Reindl, Larry Baker and Corey Virtue and superintendent of schools Dr. Tim Frederick, met with Custer Jr./Sr. High School welding and industrial tech teacher Jared Webster before the Sept. 14 board of education meeting in Custer to discuss the program. 
“We are supportive of this program. We just want to make sure that we see everything go correctly,” said Reindl. 
The request made was for the board to allocate $100,000 to start up the project. This will cover construction materials for the house, and several industry leaders have been contacted to donate services. Donations are continuing to come in, and the $100,000 CSD will eventually be reimbursed from the Custer CTE Community Homes Fund. 
Frederick said that from the beginning the board knew the district might need to put up some money to start the program, although donations are still needed to cover the entirety of the project. 
“Tim made a good point. We’re looking at this as their new curriculum. We offer a lot of money for other curriculums,” said Reindl.
While there’s always some risk, Reindl said he fully expected the district to get a return on its investment, whether through donations or the sale of the house. The goal is to complete the house in 18 months, but it will be somewhat by trial and error since it is a new program. 
Before the program can begin, the committee compiled a pre-construction verification form with a list of things it would like to see in order. This includes breaking down the expenses and donations, as well as bringing industry partners experienced in electrical, HVAC, plumbing and building on board to provide project oversight and ensure everything is being done correctly. 
“A lot of inspections will have to be done through this whole project, and that’s why we’re requiring that they have a builder on board,” said Reindl. “We want to see this succeed, and we want to make the blueprint for how to make this right.”
Reindl said Webster has done a lot of work on the program, and there’s still a little more work to be done to make it a good experience for the students. The committee expected the pre-construction list to be completed in two weeks. 
Board member Sara Barrick asked how this delay would affect the class schedule for the students, and Virtue said Webster had enough material to move forward. Students will work on the house during four class periods a day. 
Frederick said there are a lot of different CTE programs happening in the building, but he trusts the administrators to build a schedule that will allow students to participate as much as possible. In the future, Frederick said it would be ideal for students to have larger blocks of time to continuously work on the project without losing time in transition. However, students also need opportunities to participate in the other CTE classes being offered and expanded. 
“It’ll take some scheduling and some creativity on their part, but they’ll get it done,” said Frederick. 
Thus, Reindl proposed a motion “to approve and authorize expenditures up to $100,000 during the 26-27 fiscal year for the materials and approve projects related to the expense, require completion of the district CTE community housing strategy pre-construction verification and sign-off process, and authorize the superintendent to administer the project within the board-approved financial parameters, with district project expenditures to be reimbursed through foundation project funding and/or proceeds from the eventual sale.” 
This is contingent on the pre-construction list being complete and signed off on by facilities and transportation committee members. It will also require adding $100,000 to the budget. Business manager Sarah Wedge said the project will be coded as an inventory item rather than an expense because the district is building something to sell. 
“The big thing is the cost of the project. Remember that we’re talking about $100,000. As we discussed, it’s like a curriculum cost, but most times your curriculum costs—you’re not getting it back. We’re going to get that back as a district,” said Frederick. “Our ability to grow this program and sustain this program is going to be through our industry partners that we’re going to develop relationships through donations and in the sale of the house.”
As a result, the district should not need to budget for this program in the future because the foundation funds will continue to grow. Then, when invoices come in, they will be sent to the Black Hills Area Community Foundation, which will immediately reimburse the district.  
Barrick asked how the project would be insured, and Frederick explained the district’s property and liability insurance covers anything that happens while the students are working on the housing project the same way it covers other school classes. Students are also required to take OSHA safety training before becoming actively involved. 
As for where the house will be moved to once completed, Reindl said they are continuing to work on finalizing a plan with locations near the school, that way the house won’t need to be moved very far. Should complications arise, it would be the purchaser’s responsibility to move the house. 
It was also proposed that students be included in creating a material package with cost estimates so they understand the process of building something from start to finish. 
“It’s a good thing for the kids to dabble in right now,” said Baker. 
The motion was unanimously approved as stated.